


Broken Songbird

by hollydermovoi



Series: Songs of the Soul [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Darcy is a mutant, F/F, F/M, M/M, Rape Recovery, and a rape victim
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2017-12-27 21:33:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/983859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollydermovoi/pseuds/hollydermovoi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place right after the events of The Funeral, a re-work of a story of the same title. </p><p>In which it's explained why Darcy was in the hospital and why she started singing while in a coma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Hospital

Her body didn't hurt as much anymore, and she supposed the fact that the songs around her were muddled and playing all at once was a sign of her returning health. They were only ever clear without the aide of her i-pod if she was distressed.

Speaking of her i-pod, Agent P had better give it to her soon. It had been over a _year_ since Thor'd touched down, and she'd _signed_ all the damned confidentiality agreements. She more than deserved it back, especially since it was so damn important to her, but thus far, her many attempts to reclaim it had only been met with refusals, and she'd had to go back to school without it, an experience that had been hellish. She hadn't even been able to stay with Jane and Erik cause they'd both been shipped off to God forsaken Science! lands, so she'd been surrounded by unfamiliar songs that she'd tried to cope with on top of her studies, which hadn't gone very well. She'd been almost _relieved_ when those men had caught her.

Almost.

A song brushed against her arm, traveling up it to her head. It was excited, and instrumental, a very strong bass line playing underneath. Despite it's familiarity, she flinched away from it, because acknowledging the song meant acknowledging that they'd sent someone new to torture her.

"Darcy." came Jane's voice, "Darcy, Dr.Banner isn't gonna hurt you, he just wants to examine you- SHIELD only did an MRI to check for bleeds, they didn't run any other tests. Darc?"

A familiar song ran up her arm once again and she whimpered. _She didn't want to see how they conjured up Jane's voice and song._

A large presence to her left pushed Jane away from her. "Lady Darcy!" came Thor's booming whisper and yes, he had a booming whisper, it's hard to explain, he's Asgardian, and the booming whisper was near impossible to duplicate. Not that she doubted those sons-a-bitches ability to mimic a god. She didn't doubt their ability to do _anything_.

But then, all the songs suddenly went silent. And she knew, she knew she was safe. 'Cause if there was one thing those bastards weren't good at mimicking, it was the utter lack of song that Thor had, so she let her eyes open and focused blearily on the god's shiny face.

"Hey," she rasped "Thought you were busy savin' the world from aliens?" She was pretty sure he flinched at that and she felt her brow scrunch in confusion. What the hell was wrong with him?


	2. Chapter 2

"Lady Darcy, I have been remiss in my duties as a Prince of Asgard. I should have ensured your safety with that of my Lady Jane. Will you find it in you to forgive me?" 

Thor waited with baited breath for his friend's decree, hoping she would set him forth on a quest so that he might regain his honor. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten her. Had she not shown the courage of a valkyrie when she had felled him with her portable lightning? Had she not welcomed him to Midgard after that first encounter with open arms, introducing him to such marvels such as coffee and pop tarts? Upon his return to Midgard, he'd been instantly worried about his love, the Lady Jane and Son of Coul had ensured her safety at great cost. Yet Darcy had payed the price for his lack of foresight with the essence of her very being. 

Friend Bruce, once he had learned of the healers of SHIELD's lack of thoroughness had been attempting to identify all of her injuries, and from little he could deduce, they were quite severe. She'd been beaten almost beyond recognition when she'd first been found, and given the devastation the Chitauri had wrought, it'd been assumed that she'd been caught inside the building she'd been found outside of as it collapsed. The agents who'd recovered her hadn't even tried to identify her until they'd washed away the blood on her arms and found that norse runes designed to hide her from the eyes of Heimdall had been carved into them. After that, they'd done quick patch up work while trying to identify her, and as a result, she'd bear the scars of her torture for many years. Once her identity had been discovered, the Avengers had taken shifts protecting her, Friend Clint being her most stalwart companion. At first he thought that perhaps they'd been involved romantically, however, Friend Natasha assured him they had not been and he chose to take her word for it.

Darcy stared at Thor, trying to decipher what exactly he was trying to say when it hit her- he was blaming himself for the men who had attacked her. 

"Thor, sweetie, it's not your fault they attacked me. They uh..." she swallowed, trying to moisturize her suddenly dry mouth and throat. "They didn't even _know_ that I know you until y'all showed up on the news they had blasting at all times, and after I accidentally blurted out 'Oh, I didn't know Thor was back', they let me go. So honestly, I owe you my _life_. Who knows what they would've done if they'd had me for much longer?" 

She tried to laugh at that possibility, but fear held her morbid humor in check. She felt her eyes fill with tears, so she shut them and tried to breath very deep and evenly, feeling her shoulders shake helplessly. She turned away from Thor's comforting pat, and started to sob brokenly.

"P-please. Leave me alone." she gasped out. " _Please_. There are too many songs- I- I can't."

There was a silence and then Jane's voice came from her left. "Darc- what do you mean when you say there are too many _songs_?"

Of course, that was when Tony Stark chose to enter the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Clint Barton would never, under any circumstances, identify himself as someone able to understand Tony Stark. So following the man as he went to Fury's office wasn't really a thing he did because he understood Stark's actions, it was more an allowance of a _give_ \- he _had_ to get away from Darcy, pretty Darcy with her nasally laugh and her enthused acceptance of the world as it evolved, lying helpless on that bed-

He swallowed, and slipped into the vents, following Stark with all the patience and quiet he could muster, and by the time Stark had had a quiet conversation with Fury about something that left the genius absolutely gleeful, he was itching to return to Darcy's side.

He could do this- protect her, that is, even if the recollection of her voice rasping out that song gave him the heebie jeebies, even if he was a good for nothing carnie who hadn't even made it to highschool and whose bow had been confiscated soon after they'd debriefed.

He _could_. He _had_ to.

*

Tony Stark was a genius, this the world knew. Sometimes though, in the face of his attitude or promiscuity, they forgot. Darcy, however would never forget, because the first thing Tony did was save her from herself. And, being Tony Stark, he was kind of an asshole about it. 

"Way to ruin my fun, Chorus Line." he whined as he sauntered over. He leaned over her, ignoring the fact that the songs had taken one some rather _protective_ themes (and she could totally see Captain America glaring at him) and gently tugged on her ear. "There's good news and better news," he said, chock full of false confidence. 

_Chimerical: highly unlikely,wildly fanciful_ sang a faltering, childish voice, and Darcy tried to turn her flinch into curiousness, but she didn't think it worked, because Tony grimaced.

"I-I was trying to do something nice. And, you know, beta testing, so...good news, you're not going crazy, you just have these-" he pulled away from her and unfurled his hand, revealing two little metal pods "on, and OK, not my _best_ idea, putting them in someone with recent head trauma, but hearing music is supposed to help stimulate your neurons or something-" Desperate to make him stop blathering himself into a pool of anxiety, she placed a bandaged hand on his, and squeezed as hard as she could. His shoulders relaxed, and she smiled. "So what's the better news?" she asked, and focused very intently on listening only to his song, his sad song, which seemed to have lightened some.

_I'll make it happen, though not as previously reckoned..._

"I've taken over your health insurance!" he blurted, and she felt one of her eyebrows rise skeptically. Taking pity on him and his hopeful little song, she said dryly "Wasn't aware that I _had_ health insurance." "Exactly!" he exclaimed. "Now you do! StarkCare! An all-encompassing health care coverage for the Avengers, their minions and employees of Stark Industries or the Maria Stark foundation. I'm moving you to my Tower, where you'll get the best healthcare what money I have that's not being diverted to clean up can buy. Any questions?"

She blinked at him, bewildered. He was trying so _hard_ , and it almost physically hurt to feel him on edge, to feel the clash of his desperate song against the harmonies of the Avengers, who seemed to be _agreeing_ about something. Tony let go her hand and started fidgeting , and that's when she can hear the songs of the others more clearly.

Oh. They are as unused to trusting as Tony is, maybe more in some cases, and him acting like this, acting kind, it's just not something they're used to. Well, at least, not from people like their _perception_ of him. She smiled again because making different songs harmonize together was something she was good at.

She knew exactly what to say next.

"Just one. When you called me Chorus Line, was that in reference to my tits and ass?"


End file.
